When President Barack Obama delivers a big foreign-policy address at West Point on Wednesday, he’ll talk about the tensions and disputes that suddenly seem to be breaking out all around the globe. But amid all the messiness, one encouraging sign he might point to is the remarkable spate of elections being staged in countries important to the U.S.

The list of places on the U.S. watch list where the core function of democracy—citizens choosing leaders—has been exercised in recent weeks is an impressive one. Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Egypt and Colombia all have held national elections.

Meanwhile, India just held an election that produced a peaceful sea change in leadership in the world’s largest democracy. And in Europe, a bedrock of democratic rule, voters across the continent last weekend cast votes that will significantly change the character of the European Parliament.

In other words, in a troubled world, it’s worth remembering that democracy is alive, well and still spreading.

Of course, democracy isn’t the panacea that some argued it would be in those heady days after the end of the Cold War when it began spreading across once-authoritarian regimes, nor are the results always comfortable. As today’s Capital Journal columnnotes, the European parliamentary elections brought a greater measure of power to a series of nationalist partieswhose aim is, in fact, to weaken the European Union and economic integration across the continent. That’s a development that may make it harder for the U.S. to complete a free-trade agreement with Europe that is high on the Obama administration’s wish list.

In Egypt, the election being held this week will mostly be an exercise in cementing the power of the man who actually overthrew the results of the last election. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the army general who spearheaded the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government that won the last Egyptian election and threw the former president, Mohammed Morsi, into jail, now is widely expected to be elected president himself.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned and isn’t offering a candidate this time. Thus, Egypt’s election is less a celebration of real democracy than a reminder of its limits.

Similarly, Syria is expected to hold an election on June 3 that will serve to do little more than offer a bit of legitimacy to President Bashar al-Assad, a leader whose efforts to crush political dissent have led his country into a debilitating civil war that continues to confound American policy makers longing for Mr. Assad’s removal.

Still, there is no doubt that democracy is more often a force for good in countries where the U.S. is trying to foster stability. The election in Afghanistan is almost certain to bring to power a leader more willing to work with the U.S. on a long-term security arrangement than is the current Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. The voting in Ukraine is bringing to power a new president, Petro Poroshenko, that even Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be acknowledging is now the legitimate leader of a country that Russia has been busy destabilizing.

And in Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a sometimes troublesome partner with Washington, is likely to retain power, but only after negotiating a power-sharing arrangement with a variety of other leaders and parties, a process that may prove healthy in Iraq’s patchwork political power structure.

All told, President Obama can celebrate the spread of democracy as a positive long-term trend, even if it doesn’t solve all problems in the short run.

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.